Sharing is Caring

Breaking news- Our 4-year-old daughter has finally started sleeping in her own bed. Well, roll your eyes, go ahead & judge me but the fact is that we've been co-sleeping from the time she grew out of her crib. Thus, my dream of setting up her bed in the nursery and tucking her in every night after a sweet story session went out of the window pretty early on as she refused to sleep away from us. For the first two years, it was okay but as she grew bigger and taller, we often cribbed to her that it is a bit difficult for all three of us to sleep in our not-so-king size bed. But in response to that she would just remind us, "mamma-papa, sharing is caring". Well, that mantra of course doesn't apply to her when it comes to sharing her toys with her friends or giving me a teeny tiny bite of her chocolate every now and then or sharing any other thing that she is utterly possessive about. Though, strangely enough,  sharing our bed she thought, was her birthright. Now, I should be slightly honest with you here-I do sleep better when I sleep huddling and cuddling my sweetie pie (plz don't tell her okay!) Ohh, the smell of her soft skin and silky hair is just heavenly!

So, coming back to our breaking news of the day, she finally announced one morning that she doesn't feel comfortable in our bed. She also added "mamma-papa you take too much space" when the truth is that when she moves 360 degree in her sleep, her mamma-papa often hold onto to the edge of the bed to save their dear life. And what she also doesn't know that the poor papa had even rolled over and fell off the bed one night (don't tell him I told you this). Anyways, soon after her demand we did set out looking for a bed for her. But again she wanted a bunk bed. A bunk bed in a Bombay apartment I tell you is not a good idea. I tried convincing her by showing pictures of cute little white/pink wooden beds on Pinterest. Alas, she would invariably spot the pictures of bunk beds on Pinterest and say "this is what I want". So, I told her, here's the deal- we'll buy you a bunk bed, but you'll have to sleep in your own room-the room which was once lovingly set up as her playroom but as you rightly guessed, was never used by her. All her toys and books are scattered all over our apartment as she keeps expanding her kingdom from the kitchen to the living room to the balcony. No corner has been left unconquered by Her.  BUT she refused to sleep in a separate room, bunk bed or no bunk bed and demanded that we set up her own bed in our bedroom only. 

We didn't let the golden opportunity go out of our hands and before she changed her mind we brought two thick mattresses to one corner of our bedroom and I threw in some of my Hamsa vintage pillows and buntings, hung her Ikea canopy (a gift from a dear friend of mine), brought some of her books from her playroom and voila-her vintage kid's corner is ready. She is super happy and as I am writing this blog stretched out on our soft bed, she's happily snoozing in her new bed under the comfort of her handmade owl quilt. And then suddenly, I miss her.......

Phew! It looks neat, finally!

I went to a great height to capture this one

Haldiram, the giraffe peeking out of the basket while Somu mouse is quite camera shy

Can you spot her silver crown?

Hamsa vintage pillows & buntings

The bookends are from Vividha

Tea is ready. We are now waiting for the tiger

The dolls (in red scarf and red skirt) in the basket are her grandma's childhood dolls 

And finally, she succeeded photobombing my blog pics

[All images are taken by me]

Style-Boho Gypsy

Images are from Pinterest

A Tale of Nightstands

Tonight, I feel like talking about nightstands or bedside tables as you may call it. What does your nightstand hold for you?  Is it non-frilly, clutter free,  a piece of mere utilitarian furniture standing next to your bed? OR, is it always overflowing with books, night lamp, hand cream, foot cream, more books, a box full of 'just in case' items? If it is the latter, then your nightstand is very much like mine. 

Well, I've improved. 

At one point in my life, the books and magazines that I was reading and the books that I had just finished reading, along with the books that I was planning to start reading, would all be scattered on the bedside rug, in the night. I liked it that way when I woke up in the morning. Well, I'm talking about my life before my daughter was born, which means I had the liberty to do whatever I felt like. Now, I can't afford such a luxury of laziness as I would be setting a bad example in front of her. (Big)Sigh!    

If you are single, or don't have to worry about little monsters watching and copying you, then go ahead and do whatever your heart desires. But please don't keep the nightstands so clean that in the morning you might feel like you have woken up in a hotel room :)  And identical bedside tables with identical lampshades I must tell you, is one of my pet peeves (sorry if I 've hurt your sentiments). To me, it is boring aesthetic sense. 

After I'm done writing this post, I think I'm going to create a new board on my Pinterest- Nightstand Love. By the way, my Pinterest addiction has reached a new height, of late. I've always loved surfing Pinterest but after my Pinterest account got bugged twice (or so I thought)and I lost hundreds of links, pictures and my countless lovingly created boards, I was feeling lazy to start a new account for a long time. But I did finally open a new Pinterest account and so far it is doing well. And I also figured that it wasn't bugged but on my MAC it doesn't function properly if I'm using Safari. It works fine on Google Crome though. Only if I had figured it before deleting my account :( 

                                                                                                                             Now, before I doze off on my laptop, here are some pictures I admired on Pinterest for their sheer uniqueness and beauty and they deserve to be a part of this Tale of Nightstands :)

GOOD NIGHT!

All images are via Pinterest

Saturday Musing-Goodearth

All images are from Pinterest

Monday Musing - Shabby Chic

"I believe in plenty of optimism and white paint"

-Elsie de Wolfe

Come inside my imaginary shabby chic home..... 

  Would you like to have a cup of tea with me?

You know, I love to sit by this window & read...What are you reading these days?

Sometimes I also like to add a hint of bright hue in my living room...

Though, I can happily live in an all white room...

And I putter around in my imaginary shabby chic home....

But I also do my own laundry...do you?

And I store all my freshly washed linens in this pretty thing...

Oh, you must be hungry! Let me get the plates

Shall we eat now?

We'll have some mint tea in my bedroom afterwards...

Hope you'll come back & visit me again

I'll be waiting for you....

Images are via Pinterest.com

Visit my Pinterest boards for some more shabby chic madness & more

Zen

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”- Thich Nhat Hanh

This is just the kind of room, I need right now, to sit & drink my tea (slowly) because the scorching Bombay summer is making me want to run away to somewhere peaceful, less noisy, dust free & most importantly, cooler. This room with clean lines also appeals to me on another level especially, when I've been on a mission to de-clutter my house, since last couple of months. Though, it is proving to be a rather humongous task because of our years of retail therapy, piles of 'just in case' items stored everywhere, long outgrown clothes, excess linens and not to forget the endless toys & books of my daughter, is all that's standing between me & my goal. But I'm at it & making progress (very) slowly and (un) steadily! All I have is my determination. Sigh!

For the last few months, I've been deeply influenced by two blogs Be More with Less-Life on Purpose  and The Minimalists besides my daily dose of inspiration from Leo Babauta's Zen Habits. Every time I feel like buying a new pair of shoes or a new dress, I remind myself of the Project 333. Well, it helps sometimes. But it surely didn't help when I was in Paris, last month. By the way, a new post on my Paris trip is coming up soon. So keep reading my blog :)

Now, let me show you some more pictures of this vintage inspired inn & cafe, Table on Ten in Bloomville, Northwestern Catskills. The handmade bed, pillows made from upcycled grain sacks, vintage fixtures in the bath and the deep gray walls have added so much charm to this quaint place.

I Like it!

Images via Remodelista

SOME INTERESTING XMAS DECOR

All images via here